Wild Quarter Ends With Optimism
U.S. equity markets concluded a wild first-quarter with their best week of 2023 as easing contagion concerns and further evidence of cooling price pressures lifted markets to a third-straight weekly gain.
Pushing its gains to 7.5% for the quarter, the S&P 500 posted its best week since last November with gains of 3.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbed into "bull market".
Real estate equities - the sector with perhaps the most potential upside from easing inflation and interest rate pressures - were again among the leaders this week. Equity REITs rallied over 5%.
Continuing the stretch of "good news" on the inflation front seen over the past several weeks, the closely-watched PCE Index provided further evidence that price pressures have cooled rather significantly in recent months.
Hospital operator Medical Properties Trust rallied more than 9% this week after it announced that it will sell its Australian real estate investments and launch a counteroffensive against short sellers.
U.S. equity markets concluded a wild quarter with their best week of the year as easing contagion concerns and further evidence of cooling price pressures lifted markets to a third-straight week of gains. After declining in three-straight quarters to start 2022 - which was the worst stretch of declines since 2009 - the major benchmarks notched a second-straight quarterly advance as a late-period rebound salvaged a quarter that was shaken for several weeks by tremors of financial instability following a pair of major bank collapses.
